Shane Campbell and Wade Carmichael dominant in their Round 3 heats at CHIKO Pro Junior
Australia’s Shane Campbell and Wade Carmichael walked away with top honours from their respective Round 3 (Round of 64) heats of CHIKO Pro Junior at Newcastle’s Surfest that continued at Merewether Beach in New South Wales, Australia, on Friday, March 9.
The surfing conditions were looking much better as compared to that on Thursday, with the size of the waves decreasing from an intimidating six feet to four-to-five feet. The competition field, which included surfers from all around the world, promised a
lot of thrilling action as they got ready to continue their skirmish for the $20,000 prize money and coveted Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Junior rating points that were on offer at the latest 4-Star ASP Men’s Junior Qualifying event.
Campbell adjusted exceptionally well to the surfing conditions at hand during the 15th heat of Round 3. After getting off to a slow start, he detected an incoming wave and immediately charged towards it to unload a series of exquisite tricks,
posting an 8.15 on the score-board. He soon backed it up with a 5.25-point wave to get to a heat-total of 13.40 points, which remained unbeatable until the end to seal the fate of the heat in his favour.
Australia’s Noa Deane extended his life in the event as well after scoring a 3.60 and a sensational 8.90 off his top-two waves for a heat-total of 12.50 points, which served to put him in runner-up place.
Tommy Boucaut and Mitch Baker, both from Australia, were forced to make an early exit from the competition after rounding out the bottom-two positions, with Boucaut finishing with a heat-total of 7.25 points while the latter scored an over-all 5.50 points.
The final heat of Round 3 pitted Carmichael against his fellow countryman Kurtis Herman, America’s Taylor Thorne and Portugal’s Francisco Alves.
The battle for the top spot turned out to be real intense, with both Carmichael and Thorne fighting tooth-and-nail to get an upper hand.
Carmichael opened his account with a 9.00 off his first business-wave and soon backed it up with an 8.85-point wave to get to a heat-total of 17.85 points. The effort put him in the lead, which held up until the end to earn him victory.
Thorne missed out on the win by merely 1.75 points despite putting up a commendable fight. Scoring a 9.60 off his first business-wave, he got the scales tipping in his favour. However, he failed to back it up with another big score and only managed to add
a 6.50 to his account, consequently settling for runner-up with a heat-total of 16.10 points.
Alves finished third with a heat-total of 13.15 points, while Herman rounded out the fourth position with a two-wave total of 12.30 points. Both the surfers got eliminated from the competition as a result.
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